


An Angel Gets Her Wings

by emma98



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: A little angst, F/M, Ghostly Shenanigans, Hydra just being hydra, Peggy is not a perfect angel in this but that's why we love her, a little humor, not such a spoiler alert: Peggy is the major character death, secret familial relations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-21
Updated: 2016-12-21
Packaged: 2018-09-10 23:53:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8944387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emma98/pseuds/emma98
Summary: Peggy Carter has one task to complete before she's allowed to get into her rightful place in Heaven.  Just a little piece of unfinished business, namely making Steve Rogers happy.  
Peggy has no idea how that task sends her ghostly, angel self into a dessert in New Mexico, but she's willing to try and figure it out.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hi Everyone! So, I've NEVER written Peggy Carter before. And I have to warn you, you might not like her a little bit at one point in this story. She's not a villain, not by a long shot. But she is HUMAN, and even as an angel in training, she has her human moments.
> 
> I'm very, very, very nervous about the whole thing.
> 
> I hope that you enjoy this. Happy Holidays!

**_An Angel Gets Her Wings_ **

 

* * *

 

 

**_May, 2016_ **

  
  
  


The funny thing about arriving at the pearly white gates after a well lived life, is that it wasn’t so much fluffy clouds and robed angels with checklists in front of an old wrought iron gate.  It was much more like landing in the cramped and musty old office of SSR Commissioned Warrant Officer Morgan back in 1944.  Including Commissioned Warrant Officer Morgan, looking just as uncomfortable and red as he ever did.

 

“Carter, Margaret,” Morgan intoned with boredom, not looking up from his files.

 

Just like he used to behave when Peggy would come around to try and requisition more bullets and rations for the Howling Commandos.  It was just like it, actually, and Peggy looked down and realized she was standing in her olive drab, her body looking and feeling just like it had in 1944.  She flexed her hands and realized the arthritis was gone.  One bend of her elbow had her actually smiling, she didn’t even have that pain she had gotten when she had used her elbow to break Jack’s nose that time in---

 

“Can I help you?” Morgan asked in that same bored tone he always used.

 

“You could stop with the attitude and tell me where I am,” Peggy said with shortness and impatience.  

 

“You’re dead, Pegs,” Morgan sighed, looking up from his paperwork finally and the look on his face was almost---polite, which was probably the closest Morgan had ever gotten to a smile.  

 

It looked decidedly uncomfortable.

 

“Oh, well, you’re quite right then, it was about time,” Peggy sighed in resignation.  The last few years of her life had been incredibly frustrating.  It wasn’t easy to continually lose time as she drifted in and out of lucidity, losing her physical faculties.  It wasn’t easy being the last one living of all of her contemporaries.  

 

Well, except for Steve.  She had held on as long as she could once she knew Steve was alive.

 

He was still so lost and adrift in this new century.  It wasn’t easy to find your place in a world that had gone on turning while he peacefully slept in a block of ice.  Just that morning, she had forced the nurses to turn off the twenty-four hour news channel that had been blithering on about what Steve and the Avengers had encountered with that idiot Rumlow.  

 

Peggy worried about him.  She had lived her life and lived it well.  Steve was back and had his youth and his strength and that strong good heart that she had found so appealing a lifetime ago.  He had his good work that he still doggedly kept on trying to do, despite the treacherous world that he lived in that might not want him to do that good work any longer.  He had his friends and teammates.  She quite liked that Sam Wilson.  He was a good young man, and easy on the eyes as well.  She enjoyed when Steve brought Sam Wilson around.  

 

And he would have Bucky back again, of that Peggy was sure.  

 

But Peggy still wanted Steve to have a full, happy life.  One that he had wanted back before he idiotically and selflessly crashed that plane into the Arctic.  She had been working in concert with Natasha prior to ---well, to Peggy’s own death.  It had not been the most fruitful of endeavors and Peggy supposed it would be the thing she had not finished in her life on Earth.  

 

“So, what happens now?  Where’s Daniel?” Peggy demanded.   

 

“He’s a bit busy at the moment,” Morgan shrugged.  

  
“A bit busy in heaven?” Peggy scoffed.  

 

“Ah, Carter, still presumptuous,” Morgan chucked.  He pushed his round glasses up his sloped nose and sighed, “How do you reckon you’re in heaven?”

 

“I’m Peggy Goddamned Carter,” Peggy sassed back immediately.  

  
  
  


Morgan nodded and shook his head ruefully.  "That you are.  However, there's still a little off balance to your scales, unfortunately.  For as many lives as your work saved, the weight of taking a life is so much heavier."

 

"I never---I only," Peggy faltered.  She squared her shoulders and held her head high, "I've made my peace with what I've had to do in this world for the greater good."

 

"That you have, lass," Morgan sighed, a little bit of that Scottish brogue sneaking into his words.  He nodded again and said, "And because of that good work, you only have to do one good thing to get your wings."

 

"Get my wings?" Peggy laughed.  "You mean, one good thing and I not only get into heaven, I get to be a bloody angel?"

 

"Language, Pegs," Morgan warned her.

 

"Oh, that's not going to work for me, might as well add a few tasks to make up for future transgressions," Peggy rolled her eyes.

 

"You might not want to add on the work, you've got a daunting task," Morgan smirked, pulling out a weathered folder.  He pushed it across the desk and gave her a small, sad smile.  "Some time, the things we leave unfinished become the tasks we need to complete before we're ready to move on completely."

 

Peggy blinked at the folder in front of her, looking very much like the old SSR file that Phillips had once given her after Steve's descent into the Arctic.  His picture from back in 1943, small and scrappy and determined.  And another picture, smiling at her from her bedside back at the nursing home in Virginia, looking sad, and earnest and so lonely Peggy though she could cry just thinking about it.  

 

"You're uniquely qualified to get this done, I must say," Morgan gave her the closest thing to a sympathetic shrug that he had in him.  

 

"I suppose that I am," Peggy nodded.  "It was my dearest hope for him in my last few years, after all."

 

She looked down at the bottom of the familiar paperwork, where after a lot of military jargon and formalities, the mission line was.  

 

_ 'Help Steve Rogers attain real, lasting happiness.' _

 

Peggy nodded and closed the folder.  She gave Morgan the same smile she had given him countless times in the past, looking like she was accepting his little missions to subvert Nazi ammunition trains instead of agreeing to find her former love a new happy ending.  

 

"Let's get to work then, shall we?"

 

* * *

 

 

This angel business was very convenient, when it came down to it.  She hadn't really been given any sort of instruction, she simply knew the end result of what her work had to be.  So she had grabbed the folder and thought of what she knew would bring Steve closer to happiness.  And she turned away from Morgan's desk and went to the door and the moment she got to the other side, she was standing in the New Mexico desert.

 

"Well, obviously something is here to make Steve happy, but to hell if I know what, just now," Peggy sighed, taking a look around at the small, one traffic light town.  There was a commotion down by an old car dealership showroom, as a very large, handsome blonde man took off into the sky.  Peggy had managed to finagle her way into the SHIELD systems back in 2011.Y And she had eagerly read the copy of the 2014 People that had named the flying blond adonis the Sexiest Man Alive.  She knew who that was.  She walked very briskly towards the dealership where a short brunette and someone she recognized as Doctor Erik Selvig rushed towards a large RV, followed by strangely clothed warrior people.

 

Peggy managed to simply walk through the walls of the RV and stood stock still as she surveyed the situation.  

 

"Lady Darcy, Thor made tales of you using this metal beast to bring him to his knees," the large bearded warrior called out, loudly.  "Tell us the tale, we do like to hear of our future King being taken down a necessary few steps."

 

"That wasn't me!" the little brunette shouted out as she frantically drove the RV out towards the barren desert area.  "That was Jane."

 

"Indeed?" the smallest of the warriors asked excitedly, a handsome smile crinkling his dark eyes.  "She is a fierce woman, perfectly suited for our friend, then."

 

"Yeah, that's her," Erik laughed.  He pointed at Darcy and said, "This one tazed your future king.  Brought him down with a bolt of her own lightning."

 

"Dude, ixnay on the ightninglay," Lady Darcy hissed at him, but it was too late, all of the warriors on the vehicle celebrated loudly, banging fists against hard surfaces that threatened to give out under the pressure.

  
  
  


Peggy furrowed her brow as she watched the young girl receive congratulations.  She couldn't for the life of her place the girl's name.  Peggy had read all of the reports coming out of New Mexico.  She'd read about the Doctors Selvig and Foster.  She'd read about each of the Asgardians who had touched down.  If she wasn't mistaken, the one with the goatee making moon eyes at the unknown young woman called Darcy was named Fandral and Coulson had written a report about him being an actual scoundrel.

  
  


But the girl had never been named, explicitly in the reports.  Just that it was an unknown intern that had not been involved.

 

It was curious, but Peggy had other things to worry about, namely, what about this incident would bring Steve real happiness.

 

The female warrior was staring right at Peggy as the ghost had a look around.  It was eerie and Peggy couldn't help but sigh and stare at her blatantly.

 

"Can you see me?" Peggy wondered.

 

The lady warrior, who Peggy thought might be the one called Sif nodded ever so slightly.  

 

"Can anyone else see me?" Peggy worried.

 

Sif shook her head no minutely.  

 

"Am I meant to do something for you?" Peggy asked hopefully.  "Perhaps...perhaps you would like to be introduced to a fellow warrior that was born nearly a century ago on Earth?  He's about to be thawed in a few weeks, I'm sure you'll get along famously."

 

Sif swallowed the laughter on the tip of her tongue and gave the barest negative shake of her head.  

 

"Well bloody hell, I don't think it's any of these other barbarians," Peggy sighed.  She looked to the driver's seat and furrowed her brow.  The girl was bantering back and forth with the scoundrel, utterly bewitched by pretty eyes and clever facial hair.  That certainly wasn't an option.

 

When the RV unloaded in the desert, Sif remained behind as the rest of the party exited quickly.

 

"You are meant to guide her, I believe," Sif said with quietness.  "It is common for the last test to enter Valhalla to be guiding your fellow warriors to their true path."

 

"No, not quite, I'm meant to bring happiness to my---my friend Steven," Peggy admitted.  "He's quite handsome, are you sure you don't wish to meet him?"

 

"I think that I am not interested in the pursuit of men at the moment," Sif said honestly.  "They either lie and cheat to steal a kingdom....or..."

 

She looked out of the window where Thor was saying goodbye to Jane.  

 

"Or they are not fated for you by the Norns," Sif finished in resignation.  She shrugged, "Obviously, my heart is meant for greater things.  I wish you luck, spirit.  You are at the beginning of a long journey, I feel."

 

And with that, the lady warrior hurried to join her contemporaries, leaving Peggy to sit there and wonder what in the hell was she supposed to do with a twenty-one year old girl who fell for the platitudes and awful lines of an alien lothario.  

 

"Bugger."

 

* * *

 

  
  


Peggy followed little Darcy Lewis and found that, initial impressions aside, she quite liked her.  She was again struck with confusion at how she had never heard of her before.  Her answer came as Nick Fury descended upon the old car dealership in New Mexico, just one short hour after Thor had left.  

 

"No offense, but if you come any closer to Jane's transmitting thingamabob, I will tase the crap out of you," Darcy warned the very suspicious looking man who was sniffing around things that definitely did not belong to him.  

 

Peggy snorted, and then noticed that the little intern's phone was silent, but still in the midst of receiving a call.  Darcy didn't notice it though.  Peggy knew that number.  She'd received many calls from that number.  When little Anthony was having problems at night sleeping after what he'd gone through in Afghanistan, his lovely and incredibly competent handler would call her, and force Anthony to speak to her.  

 

Poor little Anthony.  He took too much to heart, and his father had never been so good at the fathering of it all.  

 

"Miss Lewis, I have a proposition for you and Doctor Foster," Nick Fury said in a pleasant tone that had Peggy rolling her eyes.

 

"Please, Nicky, I taught you how to manipulate marks like that," Peggy huffed out.  "This little gal may be gullible around a handsome young man, but she seems smarter than that."

 

"We decline," Darcy said quickly and decisively.

 

Peggy clapped her hands together in delighted celebration.  Sure, she had a soft spot in her heart for little Nicky Fury, and knew deep down that he had the best of intentions, but Fury had a tendency to be mendacious and single-minded about his goals, and let all the people who stood in his way be emotionally trampled if need be.  Fury only cared about the common good, and the protection of the world.  He wasn't that great at people handling.

 

"Can you get your boss?  I believe she might have some interest," Fury insisted in that steamroller like way of his.  "A budget of her wildest dream, a staff that actually knows what they're doing---"

 

"Rude!" Darcy scoffed at him with mock indignation.  "I'll have you know, that even though I don't know everything that Jane is talking about, I'm the only one that...applied, but still, I'm the only one who actually GETS her now.  So good luck replacing me with your hive minded suit wearing mouth breathers."

 

"Oh, I do like you, little Darcy," Peggy grinned.  She looked down at the intern's phone and saw that it was still ringing silently.  Peggy pressed her lips together in concentration and reached out a non-corporeal hand to try to push it.  It took several tries, but eventually, the phone did budge, just enough for Darcy's eyes to look down at it and then immediately pick it up.

 

"Ball Breakers LLC, you got some balls that need bustin'?  We're your girls---Oh...Ms. Potts?  As in...as in Ms. Pepper Potts?  Wow.  Hi," Darcy stammered.  "I just read an article about you in Vogue and I think, oh woah.  For real?"

 

Little Nicky Fury had the good grace to scowl.  

 

"Unlimited budget?" Darcy had the beginnings of a wicked smirk on her face now as she stared down the director of SHIELD.  "We'll take it.  Great...see you soon."

 

"I’m smart enough to admit that I can’t compete with Stark.  Or Potts," Fury was clearly frustrated, but doing a good job of trying to keep it under wraps.  "You might have made a good agent, Darcy Lewis."

 

"I might have," Darcy shrugged.  

 

"My people said you accessed my database half an hour ago and erased your name from the system," Fury smirked.

 

"I can neither confirm nor deny that," Darcy grinned.  

 

"Good luck at Stark Industries," Fury shook his head and marched himself back out of the dealership.  He had Selvig at least.  Eventually, once Stark was under the Avengers umbrella completely, then he'd get Foster in house too.

  
  


Peggy checked the calendar on Darcy's desk that she immediately began packing up.  Just one week before Steve was fished out of the Atlantic.

 

"Okay, Miss Lewis, let's see what we can do about finding Steve some happiness, yes?  Maybe you have a delightful older sister."

 

* * *

 

 

Peggy wanted to stick around little Darcy Lewis.  She was a fascinating little lady, and Peggy immediately realized that she was going to be her guardian angel.  And say what you would about Commissioned Warrant Officer Morgan, but he definitely got this assignment right.

 

But being a guardian angel seemed to be a sort of transient existence.  She didn't actually get to spend much time with Darcy.  One minute they were standing on the tarmac as a private jet came to pick up Jane and Darcy and fifteen dilapidated cardboard boxes filled with tin foil covered instruments that Peggy was ABSOLUTELY sure, little Anthony would have an absolute fit over.

 

"I can't wait to figure out how to nudge you, dear heart, into torturing little Anthony," Peggy grinned as she sat on the top of a particularly precarious cardboard box.  She leaned forward and whispered in Darcy's ear, "If you ever need to get him to do something in particular, he's very fond of chocolate covered raisins, and is practically a compliant baby if you provide them for him."

 

Darcy wrinkled her nose, and Peggy sat back a little.  The young woman turned to Jane and said, "What's the appeal to chocolate covered raisins?  I mean...dried fruit carcasses covered in the elixir of the Gods, seems like a waste of good chocolate."

 

"I prefer chocolate covered pretzels," 

 

* * *

 

  
  


Peggy supposed she might have felt a slight sense of disorientation, should she have had a solid and sound body at her disposal.  As it was, when she suddenly blinked out of the desert and instead opened her eyes to see a high-tech lab area in somewhere decidedly colder than New Mexico, she put out her hands as if to steady herself and was annoyed when her hands went straight through the walls.

 

"That's going to take some getting used to," Peggy sighed.  She took in her surroundings like the seasoned SHIELD agent that she was, and recognized one of the lab techs working in the background.  "Allenofsky, you cheeky little monkey, what are you doing out and about on an undercover mission?  A highly polished door handle could be a better agent than you."

 

"Jane?" Darcy called out from across the lab, where she was typing away at a laptop, her voice sounding distressed.

 

That made Peggy rush towards her.  If she was the guardian angel of this young lady, then she would certainly be able to defend her charge, if need be.  Even if she couldn't quite grasp onto anything tangible.  

 

"Jane?!" Darcy repeated as Peggy got a look at what Darcy was doing.  

 

"Clever little thing," Peggy shook her head in wonder as Darcy continued to evade the high-tech security measures meant to keep the unwanted out of SHIELD's computers and databases.  Peggy never mastered the computers as the younger agents did, but she she'd paid attention, and whenever that young little Russian whippersnapper Romanoff did something, Peggy filed it away as dangerous in another's hands.  

 

"JANE!" Darcy yelled.  She looked at Agent Allenofsky, who was undercover as a lab technician, with no small amount of suspicion.  

 

"Good girl," Peggy nodded.  Darcy must realize that they were being watched by SHIELD.

 

"What, what, what?" Jane demanded as she stomped away from the desk she had been working at to glare down at Darcy.  

 

"Watch the attitude, little Miss I haven't washed my hair in a week," Peggy ordered.  She took a closer look at the oil spill along the part in Jane's hair and wrinkled her nose, "Or two, perhaps."

 

Darcy just shot her boss a look that screamed insolence, which Peggy generally approved of.  

 

"The last time you called me over here, you just wanted to show me that you couldn't access Itunes," Jane huffed out in annoyance.  "what now?"

  
  


"Oh---your readings," Darcy slid her eyes to Agent Allenofsky again, who true to form, didn't seem interested in their science, even though that was his job (Peggy always said Allenofsky would make a terrible field agent).  Darcy waited until the man turned away before bringing up what she was really looking at.  Her voice was barely above a whisper, and Jane and Peggy both moved closer to hear her.  "SHIELD, I got in.  Finally."

 

"Darce, you shouldn't," Jane shook her head.

 

"They have files on us.  On you, on me, on Thor, on Erik," Darcy shook her head.  "Erik's in trouble."

 

"What?  How do you know that?" Jane fretted a little.

 

"He and I had a routine.  We texted each other every day, in like a code.  About breakfast foods," Darcy admitted.  "We shared every day what we had for breakfast, actually."

 

"Advanced code," Jane rolled her eyes.

 

"He hasn't texted today or yesterday," Darcy admitted.  "I'm worried, so I went into the database and there it is, in big red letters."

  
  
  
  


**_MISSING.  CONSIDERED HOSTILE._ **

 

"That's ridiculous, hostile?" Jane hissed.  "The man couldn't kill a spider.  Literally.  He wept and ran and got me to kill the spider.  After you threatened to burn the RV down.  Then he had a spider funeral for the thing!"

 

"There's more files in this sub group," Darcy whispered, pulling them up.  "It's called the Avengers Initiative group."

 

She pulled up ten files.  Pepper Potts.  Tony Stark.  Some dude named Clint who was also MISSING and CONSIDERED HOSTILE.  Black Widow.  Bruce Banner.  

 

"Oh, that's me!" Peggy pointed to the screen excitedly.  She wrinkled her nose at the file picture they used.  "Seriously?  I understand that I was quite fetching when I was younger, but I was also INCREDIBLY appealing as a middle aged woman, they could have used one of th- oh."

 

"Oh.  Wow," Darcy whispered as the file opened to Steve Roger's face.  

 

"Eh, go back to Thor's file, he's handsomer," Jane shrugged.

 

"No, not---that's Steve Rogers," Darcy whispered.  "Captain America?  I had ah---thing, I mean, a boyfriend once who was just obsessed with him."

 

"He seems to be the kind of face that transcends sexual preference," Jane nodded.  She patted Darcy's shoulder.  "Your boyfriend definitely wasn't gay."

  
  


"They found him two weeks ago," Darcy read.  "In the Arctic, and he's alive and well and...oh that photo is very recent, so, you know, still super handsome with the jaw and the---you know, piercing baby blues.  The Lewis Family Scrapbooks didn’t do those eyes justice."

 

“What?” Peggy blinked in confusion.  “What Lewis family scrapbooks?”

 

"Thor's baby blues are prettier," Jane pettily disputed.  

 

"You should see Steven's eyelashes," Peggy muttered.

 

"They are pretty eyelashes," Darcy nodded at the picture of Steve.

 

"Wait---what?" Peggy blinked, looking down at Darcy.  "Darcy, can you hear me?"

 

"So okay, what can we do to help Erik?” Jane wondered.  

 

"Well, let me dig more and see if I can't find out what he was working on," Darcy nodded.

 

"The cube, Darcy," Peggy said loudly, hoping she could hear her.  No matter how much Nick tried to keep her ignorant of the things happening with SHIELD, Peggy always had those loyal to her that would report to her.  Her own niece, Sharon being one of many who would tell her the latest doings.  She knew that something was happening with the cube.  She knew that the New York Chitauri attack had happened because of the cube.

 

Being the former Director of SHIELD, Peggy wondered if she could somehow get Darcy to the end of her search faster, maybe she could alter events, perhaps Clint's strike on the helicarrier wouldn't cause so many casualties.  They might even be able to force an evacuation of New York City under threat of a terrorist attack.

  
  


Maybe that was the reason she was sent back as this girl's guardian angel.  To make the world better, thereby giving Steve happiness.

 

Darcy continued to work tirelessly at her laptop, ignoring when Agent Allenofsky came in with food, ignoring him when he offered them a tour of the facility, and definitely ignoring him when he offered to take them back to the luxury hotel.  Peggy stayed right beside Darcy, whispering in her ear, hoping against hope that she could get something to change.

 

Allenofsky got a call when the sun had already sunk into the sky and Darcy gasped when the man left the room.

 

"What?  Is it Erik?  Did you find him?" Jane demanded.

 

"No, oh my god, the casualty reports coming in right now," Darcy shook her head, going through them quickly, wincing when she recognized a name from Puento Antigo.  "Oh God, Jane, Coulson is dead."

 

"No...he's not," Peggy sighed.  The attack on the helicarrier had happened, she hadn't saved anyone.  She wanted to sit.  She wanted to put her head in her hands and sigh and bang her fists against something hard to get the frustration out.  She didn't understand what she was doing here if it wasn't to do some good.

 

As charming as she found Darcy, it seemed like she was babysitting rather than being the guardian of anything.  The girl seemed plenty capable of caring for herself.

 

Peggy wandered away from Darcy as the girl tried to keep it together, clearly affected by the fact that someone she knew was now considered dead.  She went towards the front door and sighed as she phased right through it, intent on getting a look around to see what Allenofsky was up to.  She froze in her tracks when she saw a member of the Strike team that she was none too fond of.

 

And if she remembered something Sharon had told her after the fall of SHIELD, she was sure that Darcy and Jane were in danger.

 

Agent Rollins was definitely Hydra, after all.

 

* * *

 

  
  
  


Peggy didn't fade out of existence even after the Chitauri were defeated.  She found herself hovering next to Darcy on Stark's private jet as she and Jane were rapidly whisked away from Norway and back to New York City, courtesy of Pepper Potts, who Peggy always knew was a good sort of egg.  Darcy was currently fighting exhaustion in the plush leather seat.  Jane was passed out completely after downing four glasses of very fancy champagne.  

 

"Eat something, Darcy," Peggy advised, unable to keep the matronly, concerned tone out of her voice.  It didn't matter, actually, since no one could see or hear her.  Peggy had never had a daughter, but if she had, she wouldn't have minded the girl winding up being like Darcy.  She had been resourceful and strong in a crisis.  The Lewis girl refused to stay down when someone who was supposedly above her station tried to knock her down.  

 

Peggy already adored her young charge.  She wanted what was best for her.

 

And she had noticed that while Jane had shoved canapes into her mouth and then downed far more champagne than her tiny body could conceivably handle in a short span of time, Darcy had remained seated and uncharacteristically quiet.

 

It reminded her of Bucky Barnes, a lifetime ago.  It had been the first official gathering of the Howling Commandos, and they had set up quite a spread of food and spirits to congratulate their first successful mission.  The rest of the Howlies had dove right in, but Bucky had stayed back, looking slightly uncomfortable and turning down multiple offers of food and drink.

 

Steve had confessed later that Bucky had been a little put off by the opulence of the whole affair.  Barnes had grown up in rural Indiana during the depression, before his parents had finally moved back East when one of Bucky's youngest sisters had perished due to illness.  He wasn't used to having things being given to him, and was wildly uncomfortable when faced with champagne and tea sandwiches.  

 

Peggy sighed as Darcy's stomach growled and she looked up at the flight attendant who were shooting the disheveled ladies in her care dirty looks.  That just wouldn't do.

 

Peggy rose and stood in front of the flight attendant, glaring at her in that one of a kind, Peggy Carter way.  The look would have made experienced SHIELD agents wet themselves, but it was wasted on the flight attendant, who had probably only gotten the job because Peggy's godson Anthony had admired her bodily assets. 

 

"Go and make her a sandwich, I know all Stark planes are outfitted with the means to make Tony's favorite and disgusting fluffer nutter sandwiches," Peggy ordered.  

 

The icy blonde flight attendant inspected her nails.

 

"Oh for God's sake!" Peggy stamped her feet before taking a step forward, intending to attempt to shake the vapid woman in front of her.  Instead, the most peculiar sinking sensation overcame her and she blinked her eyes tight, and when she opened them, she was seeing things from a different perspective.

 

From the flight attendant's perspective to be exact.

 

She opened her mouth to speak, but found that she couldn't.  But she could move her hands, or rather the awful flight attendant's hands.  She nodded and moved towards the galley, slamming open compartments until she found the Wonder bread, peanut butter and large container of marshmallow fluff.  

 

She could feel an acidic sort of slime dripping down the back of her spine and she winced, not liking the feeling of inhabiting the flight attendant at all, and honestly, as nice as it was having a body, between the feeling of plastic orbs on the chest of this woman and the overall putrid feeling of sharing a body with someone so awful, she couldn't wait to jump out.

 

She assembled her sandwich, grabbed a bottle of yoohoo that had been HOWARD's favorite, and quickly walked into the cabin and placed it in front of Darcy, forcing the blonde's mouth in a friendly smile that seemed completely foreign and just a little bit awful.

 

"Oh...those are my favorite," Darcy smiled back at the flight attendant gratefully.  "Thank you so much!"

 

Peggy forced the smile on the flight attendant's face even harder and watched as Darcy wolfed down the sandwich and drank the yoohoo.  Peggy wanted to reach out and pat the girl, but the flight attendant balked at that and before she knew it, she had been pushed out forcefully.  

 

"Well," Peggy blinked in astonishment.  "That might come in handy someday."

 

* * *

 

 

Peggy kept shadowing Darcy throughout the flight, and then hopped into bodies of airport personnel to guide her to the limo driven by Happy when Darcy had instead started to lead Jane towards the public transportation pickups.  

 

"Do you think Thor will still be here?" Jane fretted.

 

"I hope so," Darcy nodded.  "If not, I'm totally allowed to tase his ass for you again."

 

"Well, I hardly think it'd have an effect," Jane smirked.  "I mean, he is---godly, now."

 

"Yeah?  And I figured out how to up the voltage myself," Darcy held up her taser.  "I'll find a way to hurt him if he hurts you, boss lady."

 

"Precious girl," Peggy pretended to pat Darcy's shoulders.

 

They made their way up to the top of Stark Towers, and Peggy couldn't be surprised that there was a typical raucously Stark party in full swing.  

 

"Holy shitballs," Darcy looked around at all the revelry.  There were dancing cages.  There was a fog machine.  There was loud music, and overflowing booze and just...a LOT.  

 

"Girls, girls, girls," Tony shouted from on top of the bar.  He hopped down and made his way over the broken up flooring and opened his arms to the newly arrived Darcy and Jane.  "Thor sends his love and says he'll be back ASAP."

 

"Motherfucker," Jane hissed, before pushing Tony away, denying him his hug as she stomped over to the bar.  

 

"Sorry, she's just---she really wanted to see him," Darcy apologized for her boss.

 

"Don't blame her, he's pretty damned beautiful," Tony grinned.

 

"See, I was saying that, he's the kind of beauty that kind of transcends gender, right?" Darcy nodded in agreement.  She seemed happy that an intoxicated Tony was nodding along with her in avid agreement.  "I mean, if Thor came up to you and said 'Hark---man of Iron, I require intimate touching and the smashing of our mouths and tongues together, post haste', you would totally say yes, right?"

  
  


"Hell yeah," Tony nodded.  He blinked and shook his head quickly, as if trying to sober himself.  "Wait, what?"

 

"Exactly," Darcy nodded, valiantly fighting against a sly smile.

 

"You are too sober, drink, Boobs, drink!" Tony insisted.

 

"Anthony, really?" Peggy rolled her eyes.

 

"Wait, what?" Tony repeated, looking around curiously.  "Thought I heard---ghost of Christmas past, or something."

 

"You're very drunk," Darcy nodded.  "Where's Ms. Potts?"

 

"Negotiating with the mayor about---the city's destruction," Tony recalled with some difficulty.  "Cause the city's mad, not thankful that you know.  I died in space and fell from space and we WON, and I DIED, and---"

 

"Okay, alright," Darcy whispered.  

 

"Oh Anthony," Peggy sighed as Tony blinked rapidly to banish the sudden appearance of tears.  She got very close to him and put her lips close to his ear.  "I am very proud of you, Anthony."

 

"Thanks, Aunt Peg," Tony muttered.  He looked up and blinked, "Wait, what?"

 

"Tony, let's get you upstairs.  I'm guessing you've been up for about forty-eight hours straight at this point," Darcy sighed.

 

"Fifty-seven, but who’s counting?" Tony smirked.  "And there is partying to be had.  I'm not sleeping when there is revelry to be had.  

 

"You're sleeping," Darcy insisted.  

 

"You offering to---you know, sleep with me?" Tony began to waggle his eyebrows before he looked a little green around the gills.  "That's disgusting.  You're young enough to be a sprog sprung from my loins."

 

"You're so weird," Darcy shivered at the thought before frog marching him away from the party and upstairs into the soundproof bedroom.  

 

Peggy watched as Darcy manhandled her godson with just the right blend of gentle ruthlessness.  She smiled sadly when Tony grabbed at Darcy's hands and quietly asked if she would stay until he was asleep.

 

"Of course, Tony," Darcy promised, sitting on the edge of the bed as Tony tossed and turned, clearly fighting off sleep.

 

"When I used to have to watch him, Jarvis would sing," Peggy whispered.  "Christmas carols, no matter the time of the year."

  
  


Darcy smiled as Tony tossed and took a deep breath before opening her mouth and singing softly, "I'll be home for Christmas...you can count on me..."

 

"It's June, Lewis," Tony muttered, but it was without heat.  The carol had an immediate effect, and Tony felt his eyelids getting heavy as Darcy ignored his weak protests and sang on.  

 

"Darcy, can you hear me?" Peggy wondered again, looking into the face of her charge for any sign of recognition.  There was none and she sighed, as Darcy tucked Tony in tight.

 

They made their way back to the party, which was still loud and wild.  Jane was standing in one of the dancer cages, going a little insane, but it seemed to be a sort of catharsis, so Darcy let her be.

 

"Oh---," Peggy whispered as she saw a very familiar and remarkable set of shoulders. He was dressed as if he had been on a day of leave from the SSR facility back in London in 1944.  Standing in front of the bar, looking just as he had when he had kissed her that first and last time.  "Steve."

 

Darcy was intent on finding a different place in the party to settle, likely to look for a quieter corner, but Peggy was having none of that.  She was supposed to make Steve happy.  And that task had led her to Darcy.  She still didn't think Darcy was quite right for Steve, too young, too silly, too aimless, but maybe the young woman would set him on a path to the happiness that Peggy needed for Steve.

  
  


Peggy squared her shoulders before jumping at Darcy in an attempt to take over her body.

 

The sensation was much nicer than the one she had felt in taking over the flight attendant.  Darcy was lovely.  It was warm and welcoming and Peggy had the urge to laugh, the mirth rolled up and down Darcy's spine in waves.  

 

But then Darcy began to fight her.  

 

Really fight to push Peggy out.

 

Peggy stubbornly planted her feet, intent on steering Darcy towards Steve.

 

_ No.  _ **_NO_ ** .  

 

The thought was loud and clear as Darcy saw where her feet were taking her.  It continued to chant  _ No _ , even as Peggy forced Darcy to stand in front of Steve.  Darcy had butterflies whizzing around her stomach, Peggy was astonished at them.  It felt like Darcy  _ wanted _ to meet Steve, not only wanted, but had been waiting for a long time.  As if she had known about him for a long time, and had built up a dream of what Steve Rogers was.  And if the delightful warmth coursing through the body that Darcy and Peggy were warring over was any indication, the man in front of Darcy easily surpassed that dream.

 

"Uhm...hello?" Steve blinked down at the brunette, who, quite frankly, looked a little constipated.  "Are you alright?"

 

Peggy couldn't force Darcy to talk.  She could barely stay contained in the feisty little thing's body.  She could only make Darcy stare up at Steve.  She felt a frustration building up in Darcy and before she knew it, there were angry tears leaking out of the corner of her eyes.

 

"Miss, are you alright?" Steve asked, absolutely concerned about the girl.  He wondered if she were the relative of someone he hadn’t been able to save during the attack. She looked to be in so much  _ pain _ .

 

Darcy stomped her foot angrily, something Peggy definitely didn't want her to do.  It was an internal struggle for control, and as strong as Peggy was, this wasn't her home turf, as it were, and she felt Darcy winning back control of her limbs.  She waved them about and Peggy winced as she could only go along for the ride.

 

"Le---let---," Darcy stuttered, looking very much like she was either absurdly drunk, or in need of mental assistance of some kind.  

 

"Miss, please, can I help you?" Steve wondered a little desperately.  

 

Peggy was forcefully ejected from Darcy's body, with so much strength that Peggy's spiritual form flew to the other side of the room, right into the cage with a wildly dancing Jane in it.

 

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Darcy screamed.  Right in Steve's face.  Her eyes went wide with horror as she realized what she had just done.  She shook her head and whispered, "Sorry.  I’m so sorry!  I didn’t mean---"

 

"No, I'm---I should go?" Steve nodded, before walking away.

 

Darcy looked madder than anything, and Peggy had the good grace to look apologetic, even though Darcy couldn't see her.  

 

"I'm sorry," Peggy said as she rushed to Darcy's side again.  "You should have let me---talk to him, or something."

 

"NO," Darcy hissed out, looking around blindly, clearly not seeing Peggy, but also, very clearly hearing her.  "I don’t know who you are, and I don’t know why you’re here, but this ends now.  Leave me alone.  Just---just GO AWAY."

 

"That's just not possible, Darcy, see I'm your guardian angel," Peggy admitted.  "I think.  It's all very nebulous, because I'm supposed to bring Steve happiness, but I've been stuck with you for---"

 

"You don't have to be stuck with me anymore," Darcy muttered angrily, turning in a complete circle before stomping from the room.  "Go and haunt someone else!"

 

"Darcy!" Peggy called out.  "Get back here, if you just give me control, I can make everything all better, I promise!"

 

* * *

 

 

Peggy felt the energy rush through her as she was swept off the face of the planet and back to that strange holding spot, where Commissioned Warrant Officer Morgan was sitting at his desk, going through files, a very normal, very disappointed expression on his face.

 

"Do you know what you did wrong here, Carter?" he questioned with surprising softness.

 

"Uhm, probably shouldn't have tried to talk to the girl, definitely shouldn't have tried to fight for control of her body," Carter nodded.  She crossed her arms in front of herself defensively and shrugged, "Although, if we weren't allowed to hop into other people's bodies, I would recommend taking that function away.  Because it's just going to tempt me, and you know I could never avoid certain temptations."

 

"Carter," he sighed.  "You're allowed to cohabitate the mortals.  But they have to be willing.  Lewis wasn't willing and you forced it on her."

 

"If she had just given me a moment to speak with Steve, I could have figured out how to make him happy," Peggy insisted stubbornly.  

 

"Usually, I understood your sense of self-worth, and it was warranted throughout your life.  You were fantastic, to be sure.  But here….you're being thick on purpose, I think, Carter."

 

"Rubbish," Peggy waved him off.

 

The wire let out it's familiar bell, indicating that a telegram had come through.  Morgan pulled it off the machine and sighed.

 

"You're not allowed near Darcy Lewis anymore."

 

"That's ridiculous, how will the girl manage without me?!" Peggy argued.  "She's smart and resourceful, but she and Jane are being followed by Hydra and their work isn't exactly safe.  Send me back immediately."

 

"Take a look yourself," Morgan  rolled his eyes, tossing Peggy a large, oval glass paperweight.  

 

She squinted and watched as the glass turned opaque and the nebulous form of Darcy was displayed.  She watched in horror as the Dark Elves came down on London and Darcy worked so hard to save Peggy's home land, and indeed the world.  

 

She watched as Darcy was left behind after all was said and done, languishing at Stark Towers in boredom as Jane and Thor went off world.  Peggy wrinkled her nose as one particular scene played before her, Darcy jumping into a closet in order to avoid an approaching Steve. 

 

And then she watched as Darcy drifted away from all of the Avengers, moving out of Stark Tower before the fall of Hydra, starting up at a job in a normal office.  

 

"That would have been mind numbingly boring to watch over," Peggy admitted.

 

"Thick," Morgan  muttered.

 

The fall of Hydra was playing on a television as Darcy held a hand to her mouth, her eyes big and full of tears.  And then, Peggy felt her heart clench when the doors to Darcy's apartment blew inwards, and men dressed in SHIELD uniforms attempted to take the girl who had been her charge.

 

"No," Peggy whispered.  The paper weight went black then.  "Where is she?  What happened?"

 

"I didn't think you wanted to see that bit.  You always hated the ghoulish stories that the girls would tell around the office about Hydra's innovative techniques in extracting information.  There was chaos those first few days after Captain Rogers exposed Hydra.  This was a week after the information hit the internet.  Hydra was making desperate grasps for any leverage at all."

 

"Is she alright now?  Where is she?" Peggy demanded.

 

"Thor came to rescue her," Morgan revealed quickly, not willing to let Peggy stew any further.  "Not quickly enough.  She was changed, Peg.  She's in Asgard now, where she's safest and most comfortable."

  
  


Peggy blinked at him discerningly.  A lifetime in the spy business had taught her to spot a lie pretty easily.

 

"You're not being truthful right now. Why?"

 

"Peg, you don't want to know,” Morgan sighed, but he could see that Carter wasn’t about to budge.  “She's...she's still with Hydra.  Two years in cryostasis after they realized her true value.."

 

Peggy teared up immediately.  She did like Darcy quite a bit, and it didn't seem fair that the girl should have lost her life when she had only just started to live it.

  
  


"I could have helped her, why can't you send me back?" Peggy lamented.  

 

"Against the rules, Peg," Morgan admitted.  "And Darcy didn't want you, you weren't allowed to go near her anymore.  You overstepped your bounds."

 

"Send me to Steve, send me, I'll figure out a way to get someone to that apartment to save her," Peggy insisted.  

 

"No, that simply won't work," Morgan laughed bitterly.  "You won't like what you see."

  
  


"Try me."

 

"You're going to need more than the glass this time."

 

* * *

 

Peggy blinked and she was feeling very tall indeed.  She was back at the raucous Stark tower, during the festivities after the Chitauri invasion.  

 

"That's Lewis," Natasha's voice was soft and right next to Peggy.  

 

Morgan had a strange sense of humor.  Peggy realized her vantage point meant that she was literally the not-quite-yet an angel on Steve Roger's shoulder.  She rolled her eyes and went to look in the direction that Steve was looking in.  Darcy was gently leading Stark away from the party, patting his arm and offering quiet comfort.

 

"She turned up in New Mexico with Doctor Jane Foster," Natasha continued.  "Girl's clever.  She keeps managing to hack into Shield and erase her file.  She works for Pepper now, keeping track of the scientists."

 

"Why are you telling me this?" Steve wondered.

 

"Well, you were looking at her with interest," Natasha said bluntly.  She smirked and said, "Glad to see all of your parts are thawing with time."

 

"She's going to be working in the tower?" Steve wondered.

 

"Mmhmm," Natasha smiled.

 

"I'd like to---I'd like to meet her," Steve admitted.  “I could use new friends, and with the way she just took care of Stark---she seems like a good kind of friend.”

 

"It might be arranged, not here though," Natasha nodded.  "Maybe stop by next Monday in the labs?  It's kind of her domain, she'll feel most comfortable there."

 

"Like Bucky always felt more comfortable at the shooting range," Steve muttered.

  
  


This was the second time the girl had been compared to Bucky.  The first time it had been Peggy doing it, and this time it had been Steve.  Arguably, Peggy and Steve were the two people who had known Bucky best.  And Darcy WAS very similar to Steve's friend.  Peggy watched as Darcy eventually made her way down and catalogued the looks of the girl.

 

She was stunning, for one.  Peggy had never really noticed that about Darcy before.  But she was.  The brown curling hair, just this side of wild.  The alabaster complexion with the easily pinked cheeks.  The pouting, plump lips.  And eyes that were pale blue---beautiful and bordering on gray.  

 

"She reminds me of Becca," Steve said softly, knowing that Natasha could hear him as she tended to the bar.  "Bucky had a little sister who was a real swell little dame, and kind of sweet on me.  Even when I was---smaller."

 

"Adorable," Natasha chuckled, filing the information away to relay to Clint later.  Not a lot was getting smiles from the archer, but hearing about Steve recounting when dames were sweet on him might get him to snort with laughter a bit.

 

Peggy winced on Steve's shoulder as Darcy clearly didn't become very much like herself, her body language jerky and stiff as she warred with the ghost trying to take over her body.  Peggy fretted and shook her head, not really wanting to see the disaster she had caused.  But she saw it anyway, and from the outside, she could really see how hard Darcy was fighting Peggy's control.  

 

"Poor girl," Peggy sighed as Steve tried to help her.  Peggy was a big enough person to admit she had been a first class pratt.  She remained on Steve's shoulder even after Darcy was no longer in sight.

 

Suddenly Natasha was in front of her demanding to know what Steve had done.

 

"Morgan, please, I can fix this!" Peggy called out.

 

* * *

 

 

"I think you greatly misunderstand how this whole reality thing works, Carter.  You can't just fix something.  I don't have a bleeding time machine," Morgan said bitterly.  "If I did, I'd go back and make sure m’wife never let that neighbor boy clear her pipes when I was deployed if you know what I'm saying."

 

"This explains---so much about you," Peggy blinked in astonishment.

 

"You cannot go back and change time," Morgan said resolutely.  "No one can.  The best you can hope for is to complete your mission and find another way to make Steve Rogers happy."

 

"I will, with Darcy's help," Peggy nodded.

 

"Peg, Darcy Lewis was meant for Steve and Steve for her, they were to complete each other's happiness," Morgan said calmly.  "And you're so thick headed, you just decided that the girl wasn't worth Steve's time.  You don't want him happy, you want him YOURS, still."

 

"That's not true," Peggy shook her head.  She wrinkled her nose a bit and realized that yes, it was a little bit true. 

 

"It's too late for Darcy, find Steve's happiness elsewhere.  Your niece Sharon might have some interest."

 

"No!" Peggy said resolutely.  "This is no longer about Steve’s happiness.  This is about Darcy.  I will not leave that poor girl in Hydra's hands, not after what happened with Barnes---- _ Barnes _ ."

 

Morgan blinked at her calmly.  "He's not due to come up and start making amends for quite a few decades, the resilient bastard."

 

"No, BARNES," Carter clapped her hands together.  "Why is Hydra so interested in Darcy?  She barely understands the work the scientists do around her, that's not her speciality.  She hadn’t been working with Anthony or Doctor Foster for  _ half a year  _  when Hydra took her.  So why would they keep her in cryo, when they could just as easily torture her to death?"

 

"I'm not following, Carter," Morgan sighed.  "Just go down and do something for Steve."

 

"NO," Peggy widened her stance as she glared at Morgan.  "Darcy will be rescued."

 

"And how do you propose to do that, lass?" Morgan demanded harshly.  "She's hidden away in another mountain that Hydra and time forgot, and you're dead as a doornail!  No one even knows she’s missing.  They covered their tracks and not even Asgard can tell she’s in trouble.  Now if you don't go down and finish the work you're supposed to be doing, there will be hell to pay.  Literal hell, woman.  Go on.  Go!"

 

* * *

 

 

Peggy landed next to her niece in a car under an overpass and she wondered what on Earth this was supposed to do.  She turned to Sharon, who had always been her favorite niece.  She was fiercely competent and had an unwavering moral compass.  She'd always be willing to do what's right.  

 

"Sharon," Peggy waved her hand in front of the girl's face.  "Can you hear me?  See me?  Anything?"

 

Sharon simply got out of the car when a very old blue volkswagon bug drove up.  Peggy followed and her eyes went wide to see a filthy, battered Steve Rogers in front of her.  She watched as Sharon gave him their gear back, the good girl that she was.  And she watched Steve carefully.   He had that sort of bashful, shy look that he had never really given her, but she had seen him throw a few woman back in the day.  It was usually when he was overwhelmed and felt like he was a little bit over his head.

 

Peggy took a deep breath before closing her eyes and jumping into Sharon, finding that the girl didn't fight at all, not like Darcy.  It was homey and familiar there, and she was just in time to kiss Steve back.  To kiss him goodbye.  

 

He had been her great love once upon a time, until she realized that the nature of life meant that you could have more than one great love.  All different, but all equal.  And Steve deserved to have that.  And Darcy would have been perfect for him.

 

She had been snarky and irreverent.  She was fierce and tough when needed, but still had a gentle touch for those that needed it.  She would challenge him and inspire him and yank him by the hand into the new century and a new way of living life.  Life that didn't have danger around every corner and a war at every rest stop.  Steve deserved it, more than anyone.  

 

Peggy separated from Sharon on the walk back to the car, and turned around to watch Steve’s embarrassed interaction with Barnes and Wilson.  She smiled at him and managed to blow one last heartfelt, gentle kiss before following Sharon into the car.

 

“Alright, favorite niece of mine, are you ready to get down to work?” 

 

* * *

 

 

Peggy guided Sharon to her most trusted SHIELD agents that were left on the planet.  Coulson’s team and little Cameron Klein, who she had quite liked when he had set up the surveillance system at her nursing home later in her life.  She wasn’t surprised when Romanoff rendezvoused with the team after all was said and done with the vicious fighting between Anthony and Steve.  Now, more than anything, the Avengers needed an intermediary.  Someone who could bring the feuding men back together to fight as one.  If Peggy had been alive, she’d have smacked both men upside the head for their foolish actions.

 

Natasha’s sole concern was bringing Barnes back out of the cold.

 

Peggy’s only mission was bringing Darcy back to safety.

 

It was very convenient when Cameron and Sharon, working on research late one night with Coulson’s science babies, found the bridge between the two mission objectives.

 

“If we could find someone with the hereditary link---” Cameron shook his head as he read what Simmons had placed in front of his face.  He turned to Sharon as she pulled up the databases, intent on finding any relation of Bucky Barnes still living.

 

“It’s blank,” Sharon furrowed her brow.  “The file is blank.  The last living grand-niece of Bucky Barnes is in this file and it’s  _ blank _ .”

 

“Oh you clever little lady,” Peggy clapped her hands.

 

“Who could erase a SHIELD file?” Cameron blinked in confusion.  “Even SHIELD human resources couldn’t erase a file.”

 

“Fury,” Sharon nodded, pulling out her phone and texting someone.  Peggy peered over her shoulder and saw that she was texting Maria Hill as quick as she could.  

 

Fifteen minutes later, Natasha breezed into the room, already heavily in mission mode.  She took over the holographic screens in the room and put up a picture of a young woman, brunette, beautiful, with a silly smirk on her face and a middle finger pointed at the camera cheekily.  She patched in two video calls and sure enough, Anthony and Steve were on opposite sides of the screen.

 

“Darcy Lewis,” Natasha announced.

 

“Boobs McLab Assistant?” Tony blinked.  “I haven’t heard that name in quite a while, since Thor took Jane to do that alien apprenticeship in Ye Olde Asgard.  Pepper got her a nice job downtown working for a charity or something.”

 

“Yes, and she did quite well there, until a little over two years ago, when she disappeared,” Natasha revealed.  She gave an anxious Steve a sympathetic half smile.  “Hydra.”

 

“How did we not know this?” Steve demanded.

 

“We must have had a security check in for her,” Tony shook his head in confusion, working on his end to pull up files.  “Her file is deleted.”

  
  


“She had a habit of doing that,” Natasha nodded.  She looked down at Sharon and Cameron and asked, “Care to inform the class on why she did that?”

 

“She’s the last living relation of Bucky Barnes,” Sharon announced.  “Grand-niece.”

 

“Holy hell,” Steve breathed out in surprised astonishment.

 

“Her family history is showing a rash of disappearances since the sixties,” Cameron blinked down at his tablet in frustration.  “She was hiding who she was to keep herself safe.”

 

“Not safe enough,” Peggy sighed.  “Oh Darcy.”

 

“We have to find her,” Steve said resolutely.  “Tony, I know that you owe Bucky nothing.  But this isn’t about Bucky right now.   _ Please _ .”

 

“Yeah, Cap, of course,” Tony nodded.  Any resentment he held for Barnes couldn’t extend to Darcy, who had been so kind and funny and whip smart in all of the time that he had known her.   “Friday, start looking up surveillance from the month surrounding the last contact we had with Darcy two years ago…”

 

“Carter, can we get an up to date listing of suspected Hydra holdouts from Coulson?” Steve wondered.

 

“On it,” Sharon nodded, getting up from her seat and reaching out a hand for Cameron without realizing what she was doing.  It had been a long few months working together, and they’d obviously gotten close.  She blinked in realization and looked up at Steve with contrition.  

  
Steve had the good grace to smile and nod at her, only a little rueful.  While their kiss before the airport dustup in May had been welcome, they’d not talked since then, and he hadn’t expected her to pine for him.  That wasn’t exactly the Carter way.

 

“Captain Rogers, wait, you should know,” Cameron paused, his hand still gripped in Sharon’s.  “Darcy is---she’s the key to Bucky’s recovery.  We have a scientist in Kenya that can synthesize brain matter using unharmed genetic material...from Darcy.”

 

Steve swallowed at that and looked to Natasha, who seemed hopeful.  She was the only person on the planet who wanted James Barnes healthy and whole as much as Steve did.

 

Peggy smiled, because she knew what was coming next as she watched the scene unfold.

 

“That doesn’t matter,” Steve said softly.  “I’d be happy if she was willing to help once she’s recovered and healthy.  What matters is getting her safe and happy.  That’s the only thing that matters here.”

 

“That’s my guy,” Peggy said softly, taking a deep breath and looking at the picture of Darcy on the screen next to Steve’s face.  They would make a lovely and beautiful couple now that she was looking at it without being  _ thick _ .  

 

And she knew Steve well enough to know that he was just enough of a little  _ shit _ to tease Bucky mercilessly about dating the man’s niece.  All in all, Peggy knew that was a win.

 

* * *

 

 

It had taken an additional six weeks.  Peggy doggedly followed Natasha now, who was on a one woman mission to lay waste to any and all remaining members of Hydra in an effort to find where they had hidden Darcy Lewis.  

 

“Oh, Natalia,” Peggy sighed as Natasha pressed the detonator on small explosives that caused a car to explode off of the secluded, ice covered road in Moscow.  “Your tasks to get into heaven are going to be  _ considerable _ , darling.”

 

Peggy couldn’t help but be satisfied at the violence that the Black Widow doled out, and wondered idly if she might jump in, and have a taste of it.  She wisely decided against it, however.  Sharon had been welcoming.  But Natasha probably would not be too keen to have a ghost inhabit her body.  

 

“Give me the coordinates for Darcy Lewis,” Natasha hissed down at a prone Hydra agent.  

 

“Don’t say  _ Hail Hydra _ ,” Peggy advised the bleeding man.

 

“ _ Hail---” _

 

The sentiment couldn’t be completed, thanks to Natasha’s efficient ruthlessness.  

 

“I warned you,” Peggy sing-songed.  

 

Twenty satisfying minutes later, Natasha was on her phone as she walked away without a scratch on her.

 

“Suit up, Cap.  I’ve got her.”

 

* * *

 

 

Peggy hadn’t known if she could cry as an angel.  

 

When she saw Darcy’s cold and limp body being carried out of the Hydra base by Iron Man and followed closely by an absolutely shell shocked and devastated Steve, she realized that she could cry, certainly.  She ran for the quinjet, where Doctor Cho was already waiting and began working on her anxiously.  

 

Peggy could cry, and she couldn’t stop.  Not during the relatively quick flight back to the upstate New York Avenger’s facility.  Not when Doctor Cho had revealed that Darcy would remain in a coma indefinitely.  And certainly not when Steve had broken down in private at Darcy’s bedside.  

 

“I always thought that I’d be able to make up for whatever I had done that first time we met,” Steve whispered.  “When you shouted at me.  But---you avoided me after that.  Please wake up, Miss Lewis.  We’ve---we’ve failed you.  And I’d like to start making it up to you, but in order to do that, you have to wake up.”

 

Peggy nodded and wiped at her tears.  Steve had not failed this fierce young woman.  Peggy knew that  _ she _ had failed Darcy.  She left Darcy’s side for the first time since she had been recovered and stumbled outside, following the sounds of shouting.

 

“HEY!  ALL SEEING GATEKEEPER GUY!” Tony hollered into the night sky.  “GET THOR’S ASS HERE NOW!!”

 

Peggy stood next to Tony and listened to him yell into the sky for half an hour, until he was hoarse.  She shook her head when he finally broke down.

 

“She’s an innocent in all this and we  _ all _ failed her,” Tony pleaded.

 

Peggy nodded and looked up to the sky.  She shrugged helplessly and earnestly said, “Please---send help?  I’d be willing to do anything.  I’ll---I’ll give up my place in heaven, or Valhalla or whatever it is I’m meant to be.  Just---send help.”

 

She put a ghostly hand on Tony’s shoulder as he tried to stifle sobs.  He turned his head and looked straight through her, but clearly felt the touch.

 

“I mucked it all up,” Peggy admitted.  “But I’ll do what is needed to make things right.”

 

The portal opened then, shimmering and beautiful.  Thor and Jane appeared, the former looking determined and concerned, and the latter looking absolutely frantic.  Tony hurried to his feet and shoved at Thor’s armor as hard as he could.

 

“How did you not  _ know _ ?” Tony demanded.  “Don’t you have that guy who can see everyone?”

 

“Yes, he can,” Thor nodded.  “And he could not see her in her deep frozen sleep, but he sees her now.  We came as soon as he told us.”

 

“Where is she?” Jane asked frantically.  

 

Peggy followed the trio back to Darcy’s room, where Steve was bent over in an uncomfortable chair, his head on Darcy’s bed, his hand clutching hers.  The new arrivals startled him out of his tenuous sleep and he blinked up at Thor, hope filling his eyes for the first time in a long time.

 

“Please help her,” he whispered.

 

“Darcy,” Jane put her shaking hands up to her mouth and let out a stifled, anguished cry.  

 

Thor nodded and walked towards the bed, revealing a vial of blue, shimmering potion.  He looked around at the assembled group in the room, his eyes settling on Peggy.  A hint of curiosity in his blue eyes gave way to understanding.

 

“I have one of my mother’s elixir’s,” Thor revealed.  “It is meant for an Asgardian warrior.  It will heal her completely, but---”

 

“But  _ nothing _ ,” Tony said quickly.  “Give it to her.”

 

“It will have side-effects that I know nothing of, it has never been administered to a Midgardian,” Thor admitted.  “I will need permission to give it to her.”

 

“Her only living relation is frozen in Wakanda,” Steve said miserably.

 

“She has a guardian,” Thor looked directly at Peggy.   

 

“Give it to her,” Peggy said resolutely.  “She deserves to live a long and happy life.  Please.  I’ll give whatever it takes to make her well.”

 

“Aye,” Thor nodded before administering the elixir through the IV connected to Darcy.

 

Peggy held her breath as the shimmering effect of the elixir made Darcy’s skin glow.  She let out a relieved breath when Darcy jerked on the ventilator.  Steve gripped her hand and refused to let go, even as the room was then filled with medical staff, removing the breathing tube.  Peggy could feel the pull away from the mortal plane of existence as Darcy came back to consciousness.  Blue eyes connected with nearly translucent brown.

 

“Thank you,” Darcy whispered.

 

* * *

 

Peggy blinked and was back in the dusty old SSR office.  

 

“Is she alright?” Peggy demanded.  

 

“Take a look,” Morgan gestured towards the paperweight with a bored jerk of his head.  

 

Peggy smiled at the sight of Darcy, sitting on the bed, well and healthy looking, smiling shyly at Steve, who seemed to be glued to the spot beside her bed.  She watched a quick and hazy montage of Darcy regaining her faculties, being reunited with her friends, going through rehabilitation, all with Steve stubbornly by her side.  

 

She saw when Natasha spoke to Darcy, obviously about Barnes’ predicament, and Steve’s clear hesitance about the entire idea of using her to heal Bucky.  Peggy nodded as Darcy clearly insisted on helping, though, just as Peggy knew the girl would do.  

 

The stone showed a quiet conversation between Darcy and Steve as she was back in a hospital bed, this time in a different place.  

 

“I wish I could hear,” Peggy looked hopefully at Morgan.

 

“You always were a needy lass, Carter,” Morgan rolled his eyes.

 

The voices were distorted and quiet, but Peggy could still hear well enough.  

 

“You don’t have to do this, sweetheart,” Steve said softly.  “We can find a different way to help Bucky.”

 

“No, this will work,” Darcy insisted.  “And the Doctor said it wouldn’t hurt.   And the magic Asgardian cure-all that Thor gave me kind of means I’ll heal.  I mean, you saw what happened when I accidentally sliced my hand open cutting avocados for Taco Tuesday with Thor.”

 

“I damn near had a heart attack,” Steve muttered.  He took a deep breath before reaching out and grabbing her hands.  “Look, I just---I want to be clear about this.  I like you---I care about you.  Deeply.  And it’s not because you’re the key to helping Bucky.  These past six months, Darce, I can’t tell you how much you mean to me.”

 

“Hmmm, I love you too,” Darcy nodded.  She blinked in confusion and wrinkled her nose.  “That’d be the mild sedative kicking in, I think.”

 

“Yeah?” Steve grinned.  “Well, I love you, without sedative.”

 

“Huh,” Darcy nodded.  She smiled in a goofy, medicated way and brought Steve’s hand up to her chest. “Make sure you take the purple bowtie out of the microwave before the snowman melts, then.”

 

“I think that means, kiss you now,” Steve chuckled before leaning forward and doing just that.  When he pulled away, Darcy was out like a light.  

 

Peggy sighed happily and nodded as the sound cut out again.  She watched one last scene, of Steve in front of a rehabilitated Barnes, opening a door to the hospital room and revealing Darcy, who was wearing a bright blue t-shirt that had big block letters stating  _ Barnes Family Reunion _ , and had another t-shirt clutched in her hands.  Bucky smiled at her in an astonished sort of way, and Peggy laughed when he eagerly made grabby hands at the extra t-shirt with his new vibranium arm.  

 

And Peggy flatout guffawed with hysterical laughter when Steve stole a sweet, intimate kiss from Darcy right in front of Barnes, and the former Winter Soldier went completely red in the face.

 

“Thank goodness,” Peggy nodded, reluctantly putting the glass stone back on Morgan’s desk.  She gave the Commissioned Warrant Officer a smart little shrug and said, “Okay, next mission?”

 

“Really?  You aren’t going to ask about heaven or Valhalla or  _ whatever _ ?” Morgan wondered.

 

“Well, I didn’t figure that as an option any longer.  I promised I would give it away for her safety,” Peggy stuck out her chin defiantly.

 

“That’s not how it works, lass,” Morgan smirked.  “But---I do have use for you.”

 

“Really?  That’s a first,” Peggy dryly shot back.  

 

“It’s a two person job,” Morgan admitted.  “Seems that Little Samantha Rogers is a troublemaker in a few years time.  Her brother doesn’t help matters either.  I have someone on that rambunctious Liam Rogers, but with Samantha added to the mix---well, it’s a two guardian job.”

 

Peggy grinned in anticipation.  

 

“And of course, you’ll have to deal with Sage Stark---don’t get me started about Pepper Potts letting Tony name their adopted daughter after a spice,” Morgan rolled his eyes.  “You’ll be dealing with a lot of guardians.  People you’re familiar with, of course.  It’s a long-term kind of job.  I think you’d enjoy it.”

 

“Alright then, consider me signed up,” Peggy nodded.

 

“Good lass,” Morgan gave that funny version of a not-quite smile.  “Say hello to Daniel and Jarvis and Howie for me.  Have a nice time---but Carter?”

 

“Hmmm?” Peggy looked at him expectantly.

 

“Don’t do anything rash with the wings.”

 

“Me?  Rash?” Peggy scoffed with a healthy amount of sarcasm.  “ _ Never _ .”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Happy Holidays! (I have one more exchange fic to post before Christmas, and HOPEFULLY two more Holiday themed one-shots coming your way in the next week).


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